Grains of Sand

Last night a friend emailed me asking for prayer for her mother. Marion has just found out that her cancer is growing. The fear of pain and death, the reluctance to leave her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren behind, has left her anxious. She is only one on my list of people who, for various reasons, are suffering. Suffering takes many forms, but usually we think of it in terms of the physical. So when Paul writes in Romans 8:17: " Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory ", our natural inclination is to think of physical death. But not everyone will suffer a painful death—certainly not death on a cross. Such suffering wouldn't be a prerequisite for sharing in Christ's glory. But Paul clarifies the statement in the verses that follow. He writes: " I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy comparing with the glory that will be...

Paul writes in Romans 6:14: " For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace ." The verses that come before this one are part of Paul's explanation on how life changes after an encounter with Calvary. It's a God-thing; specifically a Holy Spirit thing. Paul admits that old habits die hard, but the truth is that they are dying. The believer, now under new ownership, strives to finish them off as he yields daily to the prompting of the Spirit of God, now resident in his life. The evidence of this new life will be there for all to see. A believer can't help but seek to please his new Master, and to fight to remove all those things that were characteristics of his old life under his old master. Paul knows that believers, new and old, will often have doubts about their relationship with God. The constant struggle with the old habits, and the occasional failures that dog our steps, can be discouraging. Which is the reason for this last...